Here’s what I did:

1) Rinse and completely dry 1 pint of fresh, raw cranberries.
2) Melt 1 bag of milk chocolate chips in the microwave. (You’ll need about 1 bag of chocolate chips per pint of cranberries.)
3) Coat each cranberry with chocolate and set on wax paper. (I had trouble with my chocolate seizing so I melted chocolate, spread the chocolate on wax paper, and coated each cranberry in chocolate that way. I then separated the cranberries and set them individually on wax paper.)
4) Refrigerate to set the chocolate.

I love these chocolate-covered cranberries. Some of the cranberries are solid and firm, but some of the cranberries break as you bite so you get a surprise burst of tart cranberry juice with chocolate… I think it’s delicious!

How well did it go over at Christmas? Not well. I made 4 pints of cranberries and I estimate less than 1 pint of them got eaten over two days. This was one of those lucky situations where I made something I loved to eat so at least when I got stuck with leftovers, they were leftovers I loved to eat. I did learn an important lesson: Making food that no one eats, no matter how much I love it, is a waste of money.

The fresh cranberries cost $3.99 a pint. Hershey Toll House Milk Chocolate chocolate chips were on sale for $2.50. Here is what you get nutritionally from one batch (1 pint of raw cranberries + one bag of Hershey Milk Chocolate chocolate chips) for about $7:

1632 calories
222 g Carbohydrates
99 g Fat
22 g Protein

Enjoy! Let me know if you have any suggestions!

I modified the recipe quite a bit. I don’t cook often, and I am of Scandinavian and Irish heritage, so I had NO spices in my kitchen – sea salt, black pepper, and paprika – that’s it. (My mom doesn’t eat marinara sauce because it’s “too spicy” if that tells you anything…)

I’m cheap and lazy so I didn’t want to pick up all nine spices that the original recipe calls for, so I bought “Less Sodium” Lawry’s Seasoned Salt for $1.66. One can of garbanzo beans was $.66. I had olive oil on hand.

Here’s what I did:

1) Preheat oven to 350°.
2) Drain, rinse, and dry one can of chickpeas (also ceci bean, garbanzo bean, chana, sanagalu Indian pea, Bengal gram).
3) Toss chickpeas, 1 Tbsp of olive oil, and 1 Tbsp of Lawry’s Seasoned Salt.
4) Spread chickpeas in a single layer on a baking sheet.
5) Roast at 350° for 50 minutes or until brown.

They are pretty tasty! They remind me of a cross between soy nuts and roasted pumpkin seeds. Eddie suggested roasting for closer to an hour and I agree because I like the crunchy chickpeas the best. My version is pretty salty – if you’re using Lawry’s, you might want to use less than 1 Tbsp.

These seasoned roasted chickpeas are tasty, but be careful not to eat the whole batch: There are more calories here than you might think. Nutritionally, here’s what you get per batch, all for about $1.00:

497 Calories
70 g Carbohydrates
7 g Fat
21 g Protein

Enjoy, let me know if you have any suggestions!

Zumba
Minutes / Calories Burned
50 / 474, 60 / 733,  50 / 676, 60 / 734, 50 / 626, 50 / 810, 50 / 652, 50 / 790, 50 / 701, 50 / 779, 50 / 638, 50 / 668, 50 / 595
Average = 683 calories per class

Zumba Gold
Minutes / Calories Burned
50 / 461, 50 / 492
Average = 474 calories per class

What I learned is that the number of calories burned during Zumba varies widely depending on the content of the class. There are certain songs and dances that really get my heart rate up. For example, there is a significant increase in calories burned during those classes that include a quebradita (i.e. Zu Bailaito and Ritmo Caliente). Choreography that includes jumping or “riding a horse” also bump up the number of calories burned (Evacuate the Dance Floor, Jump in the Line, and Que Te Pica to name a few).

Stay tuned while I learn more from my new heart rate monitor! Zumba hugs!

The Zumba FAQ does vaguely address the question:

How many calories can I burn during a Zumba class?

The number of calories each person burns per class varies. However, depending on your body parameters (type, composition, intensity, range of motion), you can burn hundreds of calories per class.

A good source for calories burned is the list of Calories Burned During Exercise list from NutriStrategy.

Calories burned during exercise is affected by body weight, intensity of workout, conditioning level, and metabolism. Calories burned per hour are listed below for the example body weights of 130, 155, and 190 pounds.

According to NutriStragegy, “Dancing, aerobic, ballet or modern, twist” burns 354 calories per hour for a 130-pound person, 422 calories per hour for a 155-pound person, and 518 calories per hour for a 190-pound person.

The only way to know exactly how many calories you are burning during any given Zumba class is by wearing a heart rate monitor that is able to take into account your heart rate as well as your age, height, weight, and gender to calculate your personal amount of calories burned.